


Money

by secretsofthesky



Category: Riverdale (TV 2017)
Genre: But Jug isn't going to be a bad guy just to clarify, Eventual Smut, F/M, Gangs, Good Girls AU, Jughead insists on calling Betty Elizabeth, Praise Kink, Protective Betty Cooper, Southside Serpent Jughead Jones, Threats of Violence
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-04-30
Updated: 2020-04-30
Packaged: 2021-03-01 17:41:43
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,810
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23921005
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/secretsofthesky/pseuds/secretsofthesky
Summary: “What do you want?” she asked again, more firmly this time and didn’t miss the way amusement flashed in his eyes.He stuck his hands in his pockets and lifted his leather-clad shoulders casually. “I want the money you stole from me.”A Bughead "Good Girls" AU
Relationships: Betty Cooper & Jughead Jones, Betty Cooper/Jughead Jones
Comments: 20
Kudos: 144





	Money

**Author's Note:**

> Huge thank you to the incomparable Cyd/shrugheadjonesthethird for betaing this for me! <3
> 
> This is a guilty pleasure fic for me. It was stuck in my head so I decided to write it out. 
> 
> This chapter is strongly based on the show, but the heist and Jughead being connected to the money is going to be about the only similarities going forward.

* * *

Money, it's a crime  
Share it fairly but don't take a slice of my pie

_-Pink Floyd, Money_

* * *

Betty Cooper pulled up to the small, green house she now called home and parked her used - _but new to her_ \- subaru in the driveway. Despite the fact that it was nearing eighty degrees and she had celebratory ice cream in the back for Juni and Dag to reward them for doing great in school, she didn’t move to get out for a moment and just sat there, admiring what was hers - or _would_ be hers in a few years when her rent to own lease was over. 

Anyone else walking by would see a run down house that no one should want, surrounded by tattered fencing and a broken gate - but she saw a _home -_ one with a yard where her niece and nephew could run around and play with the Henry, the pup they’d adopted the week before, a picket fence she looked forward to mending and fixing over the summer, and a place with no loud, suspicious neighbors on the other side of the walls, or the fear of being evicted nonstop if she was a few days late on her rent. 

No, those days were gone. 

It had been twenty one days since she’d handed the little old couple a hefty down payment on the place, and fourteen since she’d packed up her niece and nephew and moved in. 

She wondered how many more days would have to pass before it all sunk in that it was real and not going to be ripped away from her. 

Finally stepping out of the car and into the warm sun, she popped her trunk and smiled down at the grocery bags that awaited her. The feeling of walking out of the store with a full cart was a euphoria she didn’t know was possible to feel. For the first time ever, their cupboards would be stocked, their fridge would be packed, and she wasn’t having to worry about what bill she was going to defer just to put dinner on the table - despite working three jobs. 

They had done it.

They had actually _done_ it. 

And from what the news was reporting and the info Kevin provided on a daily basis - they had gotten away with it, too.

When Kevin had showed up at Pop’s just as they were about to close and started ranting about his father’s insurance not covering the medicine he needed while she and Veronica wiped down tables, she never expected that they would still be sitting there three hours after closing, with a detailed plan of how to knock over one of Hiram Lodge’s many businesses in town and bring some much needed financial relief to the three of them.

Hiram was far from innocent, which had helped them justify their plan. He had left Veronica penniless and scrubbing tables for eleven dollars an hour at the restaurant that was supposed to be hers. For Kevin, he had gotten his father fired as Sheriff a couple of months before he’d gotten sick, and they had been struggling with the copays ever since. Without money, and a lot of it, fast - his father’s health was only going to deteriorate. 

Betty’s current position didn’t have much to do with Hiram himself, though. Her life was simply a product of her dysfunctional family. With her father in prison, her mother and sister in a cult, and her having forgoed college to raise her niece and nephew, with the bills piling up to a point where she feared she would never get out of debt, let alone give them the life they deserved - she was desperate. So very desperate. 

They all were. 

And so they planned. 

Betty had the brains, Veronica had the inside knowledge, and Kevin had his ties with the police force. 

Three weeks of planning, forty minutes to pull off the heist, and then thirty days to lay low before they felt comfortable enough to start spending - and it had all gone seamlessly. 

Veronica now had enough money to slowly start her bigger plan to take down her father, Sheriff Keller now had his medicine and Kevin had his piece of mind back, and Betty had a small home, a used car so she didn’t have to walk to work anymore, and a feeling of relief she didn’t think she’d ever feel. 

_They’d done it._

And as she hefted the bags from the trunk and made her way through her front door, she smiled at the fact that she didn’t feel the least bit guilty. 

“Hey there, Henry-” Betty greeted as the lab mix greeted her at the door. “No accidents today I hope?” she asked him and he responded with a bark as she hefted the bags higher into her arms and kicked the door shut with her foot. 

“No, he’s good. I let him out.” 

Betty’s scream left her mouth a second before the groceries hit the floor, glass shattering at her feet and the partially melted ice cream seeping from its container. 

She turned to grab something - anything - to protect herself but his voice, his calm but lethal voice, echoed through her kitchen and she froze. 

“I wouldn’t do that if I were you.” 

Betty slowly turned, eyes moving quickly over the tall man standing, blocking her back door and the one with striking blue eyes to his left, passing over the guns they held, before her eyes locked with the man who had spoken. 

She swallowed slowly, bracing her shoulders and mentally taking inventory of everything she had within arms reach that she could use, debating on if she would be able to make it to the front door in time before any of them could grab her - or _worse_. 

“What do you want?” Her voice was strangled. 

The man in front of her smirked then, the move transforming his face and lighting his eyes. A chuckle slipped past his lips as he glanced at his friends before turning back to her, his eyes running over her body slowly before meeting hers again. 

“ _Elizabeth_ , right?”

Betty swallowed again, her heart racing, blood pounding in her ears. “Betty.” 

His eyes narrowed then as if weighing the name before he shook his head. “No, I think I’ll stick with _Elizabeth_.”

Traitorous goosebumps danced down her arms from the way he said her name, despite the fear pounding in her veins. 

“What do you want?” she asked again, more firmly this time and didn’t miss the way amusement flashed in his eyes. 

He stuck his hands in his pockets and lifted his leather-clad shoulders casually. “I want the money you stole from me.” 

A million thoughts entered her mind at once and she tried desperately to put together the puzzle pieces that didn’t seem to want to add up. 

“I didn’t steal anything from you.” Even as she said the words, she wasn’t convinced. 

The raven haired man turned and grabbed a knife from the butcher block on the counter, turning it from side to side before placing it back. She let out an audible sigh of relief but then her breath caught in her throat when she noticed the symbol on the back of his jacket. 

“See, you thought you were stealing from Hiram Lodge -” he started, turning back to face her and lean against the counter as if this was just a normal house call and there weren’t two men with guns standing behind him. As if his haunted eyes and dark leather attire somehow fit in the bright peach kitchen with white trim she had just painted the weekend before. “- but what you didn’t know is that I _own_ Hiram Lodge.”

The matter of fact way he said it had her heart stopping as it all started to make sense. Veronica had been confused about how Hiram had managed to stay afloat for so long with so many against him - and now she realized that he hadn’t. That he was merely a puppet, and the money they had stolen had actually belonged to the gang that people feared for towns over. 

The Serpents.

The man in front of her chuckled as silence fell upon the room. “I can see you putting it all together in that pretty little head of yours.” 

Betty shook her head, thinking about the huge down payment she’d put on the house, the car she’d bought, the money to decorate, the furniture. 

There was no way she was getting it back. 

“I can get some of it back for you-”

“Some?” he cut her off sharply and his eyes grew impossibly darker. “No, I’ll be needing it _all_ back. With interest.” 

Betty closed her eyes, placing a hand to her stomach as nausea threatened her. 

Boots echoing across the tile had her opening them again as he stopped in front of her. “I’ll give you until the end of the week to get everything together.” His lips lifted at a corner. “Since I don’t have to worry about you going to the police and all to tell them the man you stole money from now wants it back or anything.” 

Her fists clenched at the humor in his voice. “I’ll need more time -”

The look that passed over his face had her trailing off. 

“You have until the end of the week.” he repeated before brushing by her, his shoulder rubbing against hers as they brazenly made their way to her front door. “That’s me being generous.”

Heart still going a mile an hour, she waited to hear the door click but turned when his voice floated over to her again. 

“Oh, and _Elizabeth_?” 

Betty watched as he stood from where he had crouched to pet Henry, his stature dominating. 

“The name’s Jughead,” he started and her heart failed to beat completely as she realized this man standing in her doorway was the one she had heard so many horror stories about. His lips curved as if he knew exactly what she was thinking before he turned and walked out the door. “I’ll see you around.” he threw over his shoulder and she watched from the open door as they climbed onto motorcycles she had not noticed when she’d pulled in. 

In a second, she had the door shut and locked - though she knew it really wouldn’t do any good - and was collapsing against it, her head in her hands as she frantically tried to figure out what she was going to do. 

She had been wondering how many more days would have to pass before it all sunk in that it was real and not going to be ripped away from her. 

Now she had her answer. Only it wasn’t the one she had hoped for. 

* * *

Money, so they say  
Is the root of all evil today  
  


* * *

  
  


**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading!
> 
> Find me on Tumblr @secretsofthesky


End file.
